


No Tears Over Spilled Beers

by Badgersprite



Series: Sister Bonding/Spilled Beers [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 09:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8483998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Badgersprite/pseuds/Badgersprite
Summary: Maggie is on her date, but can’t stop mulling about Alex, and the fact that she’s obviously with Supergirl.





	

“Can I get you another drink?”

 

“What?” Maggie blinked, looking up from the empty beer bottle she’d been toying with for the last five minutes, the melody of ‘Islands in the Stream’ underscoring the ambient hum of voices and the clack of billiard balls on the pool table.

 

Judy stared back at her expectantly. “Another beer. You want one?”

 

“Oh, yeah. Sure thing, babe,” Maggie replied, adopting a casual smirk. Her distraction didn’t go undetected, but Judy didn’t complain, which wasn’t surprising.

 

This was only the third time they’d gone out, as it hadn’t been long since Maggie broke up with Darla, but Judy had been flirting with her for weeks, even when she was taken. She’d made a pass at her every time she saw her at the bar, so there was hardly any doubting her interest.

 

Honestly, Maggie hadn’t planned on asking her out again after the second date. Not because there was anything wrong with Judy but because, well, she’d met someone else in that time.

 

Too bad that had gone up in smoke.

 

“Alright, back in sec,” said Judy as she went to the bar to get some more beers, leaving Maggie alone with her contemplations. Great, Maggie thought; as if she hadn’t been mulling over Alex enough when Judy was there anyway.

 

God damn it. How could she be so dense? Maggie was normally nothing if not perceptive, so how she hadn’t picked up right away that Alex was involved with Supergirl was beyond her. There was no mistaking the fact that they were together, or at the very least that Alex had feelings for her.

 

And yet, Maggie found her fingers itching to reach for her phone, tempted to contact her. But, then again, did she want to? She didn’t expect Alex to reply, or even read anything she sent. If she wasn’t with her, then she was obviously with Supergirl. And, yeah, she had every right to be. Maggie wasn’t about to turn bitter because Alex was seeing someone who made her happy; she could do whatever the fuck she wanted and it was nobody’s business.

 

It was just the lying that bothered her.

 

By far, the most disappointing thing was that Maggie had given Alex ample opportunity to come clean and admit to what was going on between her and Supergirl. But she hadn’t. Instead, Alex had acted like she was still receptive to Maggie’s advances, and said nothing to deter her flirting.

 

She took all her calls with that coy lilt in her voice. She made time to see her, eagerly jumping at every opportunity to work an angle together. She got adorably nervous around her (especially whenever Maggie gave her a compliment, or when Alex tried to give one in return). She’d even linked their fingers together at Roulette’s messed up alien fight club.

 

For a moment, those things had actually been enough to convince Maggie that she might have been wrong about her and Supergirl – that maybe there was nothing romantic going on there, and Alex’s interest in her wasn’t feigned or marred by ulterior motives. But then Supergirl got hurt. The way Alex had looked at her then, as she lay in that cage, in pain? That was love, right there.

 

That had erased any lingering doubt. Maggie knew then that Alex’s heart belonged to Supergirl. Whatever was happening between her and Maggie was nothing more than a game – a side fling.

 

Maggie sighed. She really didn’t want to think Alex was that type of person – a liar, a player, or worse, a cheater. Hell, when they first met, she never would believed that about her. At first, Maggie hadn’t even been sure whether Alex had been with a woman before, given her complete lack of a gaydar. She definitely gave off that vibe of being either heavily closeted, or so focused on her work that she’d completely neglected any kind of personal life. Or both. Probably both.

 

Maybe those observations were still true. Those characteristics weren’t mutually exclusive with Alex leading her on whilst secretly either being with or being in love with Supergirl. Were they?

 

The best case scenario, she supposed, was that Alex and Supergirl had an open relationship type thing, as that would at least mean she hadn’t gone behind two people’s backs. It might even indicate that Alex had planned on telling her the truth at some point, before things got too serious, although that didn’t explain why she’d been dishonest with Maggie about those intentions so far. A lie by omission was still a lie. Maggie had been a victim of that before.

 

Even if Alex had come out and said that was the arrangement she was looking for, she wouldn’t have been into that. Not that Maggie had any issue with polyamory or the idea of consenting adults having sex with others outside their relationship, so long as there was no deception involved, but it wasn’t for her. Not in this case. Maybe not ever, after her previous experiences.

 

It didn’t matter anyway. Maggie had put an end to it now, so they could stick to being professional, which was good. Seriously, it was. No, she wasn’t impressed with Alex playing her like that, but that didn’t mean Maggie wanted to cut all contact with her, especially not as an investigative partner.

 

Even if Maggie’s view of her morals had been tarnished somewhat, she respected the hell out of Alex as an agent. She was devoted to her job, and to others. Plus, Alex had come to her rescue despite barely knowing her. Even apart from the whole 'Supergirl’ thing, maybe it was for the best that they couldn’t date. If they didn’t work out, it would just end up ruining their dynamic at work.

 

Work. Yeah, speaking of that, maybe that was a good idea.

 

Maggie retrieved her phone and sent Alex a text, thinking of something that had been on the to-do list inside her mind ever since they’d met anyway. ’ _Hey, Danvers_. _Sorry I had to pass up on those drinks, but why don’t you swing by my office tomorrow morning? I’ve got some cold cases I’d like to cross-reference with your database. Maybe you’ve got some we can help you with too._ ’

 

For several seconds, there was no reply. Maggie wasn’t worried by that. Alex was a professional. Even if Maggie’s rebuff had succeeded in putting an end to their flirtation, there was no doubt they both put their jobs first. Nothing should be any different between them otherwise.

 

Another thought occurred to Maggie, then. If Alex was silent at this hour, that probably meant she really was in bed with Supergirl.

 

Maggie’s brow furrowed at that. It didn’t bother her to think of Alex being with someone else. Not really. Nor should it have. She didn’t have any right to feel slighted. But, then again, this was the same Alex who’d asked her out for drinks two hours ago.

 

How could Alex do that with a straight face? Didn’t it nag on her conscience at all?

 

Nevertheless, Maggie sent a follow-up message. ’ _I know you’re busy, but I don’t like to leave anything unfinished. I get the feeling you don’t either. Might as well pool our resources._ ’

 

There. That should do it. The sooner they got back to focusing on their work, the better. Maybe they could even salvage a friendship out of all this complication. It wasn’t that bizarre. Maggie had certainly remained friends with more than one of her exes, fulfilling the stereotype.

 

Although, unlike with Alex, Maggie didn’t still have feelings for any of those exes.

 

…Hopefully those would disappear quickly, though.

 

Before she could put it away, her phone buzzed in reply. ’ _No promises_.’

 

Maggie’s lips quirked in a lopsided smirk. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that response, but it did sound like typical Alex. That probably meant she would be there, but just didn’t want to seem too eager. At least, that was what it would have meant a few hours ago.

 

She chose to go with that interpretation. Acting as if their dynamic had changed or should have been different now would only make things weird.

 

’ _If it sweetens the deal, lunch is on me. Later, Danvers._ ’ With that, Maggie put away her phone. It was then that she glanced up and realised Judy had come back.

 

“Were you texting someone else?” Judy asked, standing in front of their table with a glass of beer in one hand and a bottle in the other.

 

“What?” said Maggie, feigning innocence.

 

“Just now,” Judy clarified, gesturing at her pocket, where she’d stowed her phone.

 

“That was work,” Maggie assured her, and it wasn’t a lie. Alex was nothing more than a work colleague now, and that was all she’d been trying to arrange.

 

Judy sneered sceptically. “As if. You’ve been thinking about someone else the entire time you’ve been with me tonight.”

 

Okay, fair call; Judy had her there.

 

“I’m sorry I’ve been quiet,” said Maggie sincerely, endeavouring to make amends. “I’m just distracted. It was a rough day. I brought in a big case and the perp got off, so I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

 

“Let me guess: a redhead,” Judy accused, shaking her head cynically. “All the other girls were right about you; you _are_ nothing but a player.” Judy finished by splashing her glass of beer all over Maggie’s shirt and lap before storming off, the spill forcing Maggie to flinch and jump away from the table.

 

Maggie sighed, wet clothes dripping cold beer onto the floor. “…Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am.”

 

As Judy left, Darla came over from behind the bar to clean up the mess. “How many times has that happened to you throughout your life?” she asked Maggie as she soaked up the spill. “I’m guessing a lot.”

 

“I don’t know. Four, I think,” Maggie mumbled. She wasn’t finding it all that funny.

 

“You deserved it,” Darla surmised, not needing to ask any questions about what Maggie had done to piss Judy off to reach that conclusion.

 

“I always do,” Maggie replied, mopping up her shirt as best she could with a serviette she’d grabbed from the table behind her. So much for Judy, but things were never going to work out between them anyway. Maggie knew that well ahead of time. At least Judy had served her purpose of making Alex think she was taken, which had hopefully killed any interest Alex had in her.

 

“One of these days, you’re going to have to sort out why you’re so messed up with relationships,” said Darla, having been one of those women Maggie had loved and left along the way. “I just hope you don’t break too many more hearts before you figure it out.”

 

“That’s the thing,” Maggie interjected, extending a finger pointedly, “I don’t break hearts; I make sure of that.”

 

Darla rolled her eyes at her disaster of an ex, done cleaning up the spill. “Whatever.” With that, she went back to the bar.

 

Maggie grabbed her beer, cracked open the bottle and sat back down on the non-damp seat. Her comment hadn’t been a lie; she didn’t hurt people like that. She wasn’t claiming she’d never upset anyone. Obviously, she had. But breaking hearts? No. Maggie always ended things before that became a risk.

 

Darla was wrong about another thing, too; Maggie already knew why she was the way she was, more or less. And that was because she knew what it was like to have her heart truly broken.

 

Maggie hadn’t always been a serial dater. She was once a young, naïve, Nebraskan baby gay venturing into the big city for the first time, studying forensic science in college. She came from a town of about three hundred people so, suffice it to say, she had never even kissed a girl before.

 

Except that was the problem. Her inexperience had obviously been written all over her so blatantly that it could be seen from space.

 

The first woman to ever show an interest in her was about fifteen years older than her, and much more worldly, in every respect. She came into Maggie’s life like a whirlwind and swept her off her feet. Maggie had fallen hard. How could she not? This was her first love. She had charmed her, romanced her, nurturing her emotional attachment by making her feel special.

 

It went on for a year, to the point where Maggie was expecting to move in with her. Right up until she found out that the woman she was seeing was already in a committed relationship, and had been the entire time they were together. Maggie had just been an affair on her end – purely physical.

 

There was no other way of putting it; she’d been taken advantage of.

 

That was when Maggie first realised that even the supposedly tolerant, urbane gay people she’d idealised in her mind when she was stuck in her closet in Blue Springs could be just as dehumanising as the people she’d run from back home. It also wasn’t long after her heartbreak that Maggie met an alien who took her in and introduced her to a community where, for the first time in her life, she felt completely accepted – or, at the very least, where everybody was treated as equal in their 'freakishness’ and in their exclusion from the outside world.

 

It wasn’t an excuse. Maggie didn’t use that history to justify any bad behaviours, nor was she still sore over it. That was years ago now. But, as a responsible, self-aware adult, she knew she had trust issues stemming from it that she had to work on. They hadn’t been entirely resolved.

 

Mostly, it made it difficult to really feel…emotionally invested in relationships. Being cheated by someone she’d been in love with was quite literally the worst feeling Maggie had ever experienced, and she had no desire to repeat it. And, since that was the case, it was only fair to not let things get too serious with anyone she dated, so her future exes didn’t start believing that they could have something they couldn’t, given she knew exactly how much that hurt.

 

That was what burned her up about Alex so much, and why she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Maggie had really liked her, in a way she hadn’t clicked with anyone in a long time. Moreover, Alex had actually struck her as someone she could trust, because she’d reminded Maggie of herself, back when she was new to the whole gay scene.

 

Hence, the thought that Alex was secretly messing around with someone else and never had any intention of telling Maggie about it was…immensely disheartening. Instead of being like Maggie, she was more like the woman who had broken her heart, even if Alex didn’t realise it.

 

Oh well. At least by not going down that road, they were both protected.

 

The jukebox stopped playing as the song ended, but only for a moment. A burly male alien went right back to it, popped in another quarter and queued up 'Islands in the Stream’ again, for what had to be the sixth time in a row that night.

 

Maggie rolled her eyes. This really would have been so much better with Alex.


End file.
